I'm Not That Grown Up
by JeffersonianGirl2004
Summary: For Easter 2015. Alexis and Castle share the special bond of father and daughter and each year Castle has organised a special Easter hunt for his little baby girl but this year this girl isn't so little any more. Easter Fluff. One-Shot. HAPPY EASTER!


_AN: I don't own Castle, if I did I'd like to have Easter lunch with Stana and Nathan, and we'd have a **definite** Season 8, or at least some conformation of sorts!_

_I'm sorry I haven't posted lately (not since March 4, I know, I can't believe it either :-0!) but I've been writing some real special stories and I've wanted to get some chapters together before I post anything. Expect an update on my pregnant Lanie story 'Confide' or a brand new story within the next week, pinkie promise!_

_So...HAPPY EASTER! Hope you guys all have a great time hanging out with family and friends and indulge in chocolate like I will! This is just a little Easter fic for you guys! It's something I have written between other chapters but it was a bit of a struggle to do since I just fractured my finger in PE, I HATE Basketball, and I now have some fingers strapped together making it awkward to type._

_All mistakes are my own, but I think it's edited quite well. Hope you enjoy and **HAPPY EASTER**!_

* * *

_Alexis Castle, 3 Years Old, Easter 1994_

Silently but surely Richard Castle tucked the last tiny foil wrapped Cadbury Easter egg behind a copy of 'Flowers for your Grave' that was poised neatly on a shelf in his office. The young author had spent three hours that morning hiding eggs around his loft before his young daughter woke from her slumber. As Castle binned the now empty plastic bag that held eggs earlier he let a smile creep across his lips at the memory of the night before.

X-X-X-X

_"Daddy how am I ever going to get to sleep tonight when I know the Easter bunny is coming?" Alexis Castle looked up at her dad with her eyes wide open and her toy monkey, Monkey Bunkey, tucked up under her arm._

_Richard just smiled and leaned over in order to pull the soft duvet up over his daughter. With a shake of his head he turned ready to respond to the little girl. "Well I heard that if you don't get to sleep the Easter bunny wouldn't arrive. "_

_"I know daddy but I'm not tired." The pouty lip she was giving him looked like something straight out of his mother's playbook._

_Richard lowered his face and pressed his lips against the little girl's hair. "Well I also heard that the quicker you get to sleep the quicker the bunny arrives."_

_Alexis wrapped her little arms tightly around her daddy and nodded slowly. "I know daddy but I'm still so excited…"_

_Castle nodded back. "Well I understand but the quicker you get to sleep the quicker it'll be Easter hunt time."_

_"Daddy will you wake me?"_

_"Of course sweetheart, I wouldn't want those eggs melting." He paused for a moment before kissing both Alexis and her monkey on the forehead in turn. "Goodnight Alexis, goodnight Monkey Bunkey, sweet dreams you two."_

_"Goodnight daddy," Alexis whispered as she let a yawn roll off the tip of her tongue._

_Rick rose and began to exit the room. As he reached the doorframe he turned around slowly to flash his daughter one last smile before he turned out the light but when his wondering eyes finally met her she was out like a light. With a quick roll of the eyes Castle exited the room with one thought on his mind – how was he ever going to hide all of the eggs before she woke up?_

X-X-X-X

Richard Castle shook the memory away as quickly as it had come on before entering through the same doorframe he had exited the night before. He glanced over to the bed to find his daughter slumbering silently under her bright pink duvet. Not to his surprise Monkey Bunkey was still cuddled up to the small girl's chest. He crept over to the edge of the bed not wanting to break a promise. With one swift movement he leant over a planted a kiss atop the three year olds silky red hair. "Happy Easter Sunshine."

Alexis' eyes snapped open and she surveyed her father quickly before letting a smile fill her face. "Has the Easter Bunny come daddy?"

"I think he has Lex, come on up from the bed, we have eggs to find." Richard helped his daughter into a dressing gown and a pair of bunny slippers before spinning her around and propping her atop his shoulders. "You know you'll see the eggs better from up here."

As he walked steadily into the living room Alexis' laughs filled his ears and his joy was uncontainable. Just that simple little giggle had by far made his Easter.

* * *

_Alexis Castle, 6 Years Old, Easter 1997_

"Daddy wakey, wakey!" The six-year-old girl bounced atop her father as though he was a springboard. "The bunny has come daddy and he left me these!"

Richard Castle's sleepy eyes slowly opened as he gazed over the red head that was perched atop his chest. With a single arm action he had swung her down and laid her beside him on his mattress. "Lex your daddy isn't as young as he once was and he definitely isn't a trampoline."

"Sorry daddy," Alexis had a moment of silence before waving her bunny ears around once again. "Look the bunny left me these ears."

Castle leaned forward and propped the ears atop his daughter's head. "You think these are his actual ears?"

Alexis let out a giggle, "Of course not daddy, if they were he couldn't hear anymore. He'd be like a squid."

"Why a squid?"

"We had to read a big book about squids at school the other day and I learned that they can't hear. Oh and did you know that the giant squid has eyeballs the size of a basket balls?" She giggled as she recited the facts that she remembered.

Castle smiled at his little Munchkin as he scooped her up and kissed her forehead. "Come on let's go hunting!"

Alexis nodded eagerly as she grabbed her father's hand and ran into the living area. She darted straight toward the TV cabinet clutching the Easter basket that they had bought at Walmart the day before tightly in her little hand. She moved her Sabrina, the Teenage Witch DVDs and revealed a pair of Easter eggs. She scooped up the pink and blue foil wrapped chocolates and tossed them into her bag.

"Daddy I have two already!" The young girl's voice chimed throughout the apartment as she dashed into the kitchen. Searching eagerly through the fruit bowl she pulled out a larger Cadbury egg and tucked it into her bag.

Castle watched on from the living room as he propped his video camera up in his hand in order to catch some footage of his beautiful baby girl. Suddenly he remembered something. Creeping silently toward the couch he sat up his daughter's monkey toy and placed a large blue Cadbury egg in its lap. "Lex I see one over here. Someone must be hungry." He called out rather loudly in order to catch the attention of his daughter who was rifling through the cutlery drawer in search of an egg.

Alexis began running toward her father. The gentle thudding of her feet seemed to shake the apartment as she dashed toward the couch. As she approached Rick all he did was point silently at the monkey who seemed to have taken up residence on the brown fabric. As Alexis caught a glimpse of him she cracked up laughing. Hearty giggles were emitted from the little girl as she hugged her monkey momentarily forgetting about the egg that had now clattered to the ground.

After placing the big blue egg in her collection basket she turned back toward her dad. "Daddy, look at all of these eggs!" She held the basket out for her dad to look inside and smiled cheesily.

"Wow that is a lot of eggs for you to eat Alexis."

The little girl nodded slowly as though she thinking this over as she glanced back at her father. "Well I have to share them with you and Grams so it's not really that many. Daddy is Grams coming over for lunch today?"

"Yep she'll be here. She's bringing dessert."

The look of disgust that spread across the red head's face cracked her father up. "You know she cooks yucky food right dad?"

"Yep Alexis, she is my mom."

The two of them exchanged a momentary smile before Alexis lunged at her dad. "Happy Easter Daddy."

"Happy Easter Lex."

* * *

_Alexis Castle, 12 Years Old, Easter 2003_

* Bleep * * Bleep *

Alexis slapped her alarm clock to silence it before rising from her bed. She looked over at her calendar and suddenly remembered it was Easter. With the knowledge that he dad would be organising a hunt, like he had for as long as she could remember, she tucked her Monkey Bunkey in under her purple duvet and pulled her blue dressing gown on over her flannelette pyjamas. With a smile she exited the room ready for whatever her dad might have planned.

As she slowly descended the staircase she was met with complete darkness. She walked to the far wall fumbling for a light switch but before her finger reached the plastic nob a mix of blue and red lights flickered from the far end of the room. Taken aback Alexis pulled away until it finally clicked – Laser Tag.

"Alexis Castle, you know that in order to get your Easter eggs this morning you must defeat me, the great champion, in a single round of laser tag. Your gun and laser gear are on the couch. Dress quickly young grasshopper, you have much to learn. Oh and it's the first to twenty points." Richard Castle's booming voice filled the apartment as Alexis dressed quickly and hid out behind the kitchen island. She raised her body just enough to aim her gun at her dad and pulled the trigger. As his vest went off to signal that he had been hit an exuberant war cry was emitted from Alexis' mouth.

"So the great champion already is showing signs of weakness?" She began in a sci-fi-esque voice, "So it's one to none. Who will score the next point – and all of the eggs?" As she yelled she let her nimble legs carry her throughout the room so that her father couldn't pin her location. Finally reaching safety she leant flat against a bookshelf and aimed her laser gun at her enemy in close proximity.

"Ha I see you!" A scream followed Richard's wording as he let the trigger go and Alexis' vest let off a chorus of bleeps.

It was war. The pair just stood straight in each other's path and pulled the triggers of their gun over and over each inevitably getting struck down. By the end the laugher had grown louder then the electronic bleeps and the pair were in hysterics. Alexis placed her gun down on the coffee table and edged toward her dad. She let her arms wrap around him.

"Happy Easter Dad."

"Happy Easter Alexis."

* * *

_The Night Before Easter, 2015_

"Stop pacing, you're making me tired just watching you." Katherine Beckett's New York drawl filled the room as the writer paused and looked toward his wife. "What's up with you anyway?" The cop wasn't going without an explanation.

Richard slowly sat himself down beside her on the bed and leant against the headboard as he removed each of his socks. "It's just Alexis." He began rather vaguely as he waggled his bare toes back and forth before his eyes.

"What about Alexis, Castle? You seem real bothered and I'd like to know why." Kate slowly backed toward the headboard as well and leant her head against her husband's broad shoulder.

"Well I've given her an Easter hunt every year for the past twenty-four years and this Easter she is busy, she is going to some college friend's house and I'm happy for her to have friends and all but it is our special thing. Like a tradition you know?" He felt his partner's face nuzzle closer into his neck with each word that he spoke.

"You know Castle don't worry about it, she loved all the hunts that you've given her and I think maybe it's time to move on. And yes who knows whether we'll have someone new to spoil with hunts in the future. She's grown up Castle, she's an adult now."

The writer nodded his head slowly as he pressed his lips against the cop's forehead. "I suppose you're right." He was a good liar; he didn't believe anything that Beckett had just said. Some people would claim that he was in denial but they didn't know him or his daughter.

Beckett moved her head and slowly let her lips travel over his. "Well at least we don't have to worry about the Easter Bunny interrupting us tonight." She spoke slowly and let one of her green eyes wink at her husband.

He couldn't deny that one though, and before he knew it his lips were hungrily kissing against Katherine's ear.

X-X-X-X

Richard Castle awoke with a start. Glancing distantly around the room he noticed the light streaming in through the curtain crack and much to his surprise his wife was no longer in the bed. He looked around for her but at the sight of the closed bathroom door and her dressing gown missing he suspected that she was in the ensuite. He collapsed silently against the mattress and remembered how his daughter wasn't home. For a single moment he wished that she were still the happy go lucky child that she was all those years ago. With thoughts running through his mind he feel to sleep yet again.

X-X-X-X

"Dad wake up."

"Yeah babe, up, up!"

Richard Castle opened his eyes to reveal his wife and daughter both looking down at him. Confused he sat up and looked back and forth between them. He must have really been sleeping for a long time, that was the only explanation, wasn't it?

"What are you guys doing? Alexis aren't you meant to be at your friend's place?"

The red head's eyes rolled around in her head as she looked toward her father disbelievingly. "Dad do you seriously think that I would spend Easter without you? I'm not that grown up."

The writer was too happy to think, "Yeah I actually thought you were."

"Lex you wanna tell your dad what we've done?" Beckett laid a hand down on Alexis' shoulder as she stared toward her husband who looked back at the plotting women confused.

"Well dad, Kate and I have sort of set up an Easter hunt for the two of us, you and me." Alexis sat down on one side of the writer while Kate did the same on other.

Castle just wrapped each arm around his women secretly wondering how he could ever have doubted them and smiled. "Well then what are we waiting for?"

Alexis nods, "Yeah let's go!"

As the three people exited the room the father and daughter smiled at each other.

"Happy Easter Dad."

"Happy Easter Sweetheart."

**~- HAPPY EASTER 2015 -~**

* * *

_AN: Hope you enjoyed and please drop a review and let me know how it was! Thanks for reading, virtual hugs and Easter eggs to all of you!_


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